Imploded Software

CD Ripper overview

The CD Ripper copies audio tracks from a disc and saves them as files on your computer, ready to be added to your Helium library. Supported output formats are FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, Ogg Vorbis, WavPack, Wave, and WMA.

Opening the CD Ripper

• Open the CD Ripper from the main menu via File → Add music → Rip CD...
• A keyboard shortcut can be assigned in Options → Keyboard shortcuts — none is set by default.
• A Rip CD button can be added to the main toolbar through the toolbar customisation settings.

Detecting and loading a disc

When the CD Ripper opens with a disc already in the drive, Helium reads the track list automatically — no action is required.

If your computer has more than one optical drive, select the correct one from the CD Drive drop-down at the top of the dialog.

Click Refresh to re-scan for drives and discs. Use this if you inserted a disc after the dialog was already open.

If the track list displays No Audio CD inserted, check that the disc is fully seated in the drive and that the correct drive is selected in the CD Drive drop-down.

Retrieving track information

When a disc is loaded, Helium automatically contacts GnuDB (the community successor to FreeDB) to fetch the artist, album, and track names. If GnuDB returns no results, Helium falls back to MusicBrainz.

For more precise metadata — particularly for specific pressings — click the Download button to open the Tag Downloader wizard. The wizard lets you search by:

• Artist and album name — pre-filled from the current metadata.
• Barcode — the numeric barcode printed on the back of the sleeve.
• Catalog number — printed on the spine or back of the release.

Discogs is the recommended source for physical releases. Searching by barcode or catalog number in Discogs identifies an exact pressing, giving you the most accurate metadata.

To always open the Tag Downloader wizard instead of relying on the automatic GnuDB lookup, enable Always invoke custom download window in Options.

For full details on the Tag Downloader, see the Tag Downloader article.

Editing track metadata

The track list in the CD Ripper is a fully embedded Tag Editor. Click any cell to edit its value directly.

The following keyboard shortcuts are available within the track list:

Additional Extract, Switch, and Apply operations are available from the drop-down menus in the track list toolbar.

Album pane

A collapsible panel on the right side of the dialog shows album-level fields: Album Name, Album Artist, Release Year, Label, Catalog Number, Genre, and Release Type. Editing any field here applies the change to all tracks at once. Toggle the panel using the button at the top right of the toolbar.

Capitalizer and Auto Sort Order

Capitalizer — when enabled, text fields are automatically capitalised as you type, according to your configured capitalisation rules.

Auto Sort Order — when enabled, sort-order fields (Artist Sort Order, Title Sort Order, and Album Sort Order) are populated automatically whenever their corresponding source fields are changed.

Setting the read speed

The Speed selector sits next to the CD Drive drop-down and controls how fast Helium reads data from the disc. Only speeds supported by the drive are shown.

Available speeds:

• Max Speed — uses the drive’s maximum rated speed. This is the default.
• 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x, 52x

Why lower the speed?

High-speed reading creates more vibration, which can cause read errors on old, scratched, or low-quality pressings. Lowering the speed to 4x–8x gives the drive more time per sector, reducing the chance of errors on problem discs.

Retry on read error

Check the Retry on read error box to make Helium automatically retry failed sectors rather than skipping them. For difficult discs, enable this option alongside a lower speed setting for the best chance of a clean, complete rip.

Choosing the output format

Select an encoding format from the Output format drop-down. Click Options... next to the drop-down to configure format-specific settings.

Rip to single file

Check Rip to single file to combine all selected tracks into one output file instead of creating one file per track. Helium also generates a companion .cue sheet in the same folder, containing precise timestamps for each track. This is useful for archival purposes and for playback in cue-aware media players. A blue information banner appears in the track list area when this mode is active.

Configuring the output folder and filename

Save to folder

Type a destination path directly into the Save to folder field, or click Browse to select a folder. You can also use template variables — using the same {{variable}} syntax as the Rename Files tool — to build a dynamic path based on the disc’s tags.

Example: F:\cd-rip\{{albumartist}} - {{album}}

Filename format

Define how each ripped file is named using template variables. The default format is:

{{track}}. {{artist}} - {{title}}

Common variables include {{artist}}, {{title}}, {{album}}, {{albumartist}}, {{track}}, {{releaseyear}}, {{genre}}, {{catalognumber}}, {{label}}, and {{currentcd}}. Click the Codes button to insert variables from a drop-down menu.

Live preview

Both fields show a live preview of the resolved path and filename for the currently selected track. The preview updates in real time as you edit any tag field.

For full details on template syntax, see the Tag to Filename article.

Starting the rip

Click OK to begin ripping. The dialog switches to a progress view showing:

• Current progress ring — percentage completion for the track currently being ripped.
• Total progress ring — how many tracks have been completed out of the total selected.
• Step text — a description of the current operation, such as “Ripping track 3/12”, “Converting file 3/12”, or “Normalizing tracks”.

The Windows taskbar button also displays a progress indicator.

Click Cancel at any time to stop the rip.

When ripping is complete, the CD tray opens automatically and a prompt appears asking whether you want to Rip another CD. Confirm to reset the dialog and wait for a new disc, or decline to close the dialog. All ripped tracks are added to your Helium library automatically.

Re-Rip CD

Re-Rip CD is a companion tool for re-ripping an album that is already in your library to a higher-quality format. Open it from File → Add music → Re-Rip CD...

Key differences from the standard CD Ripper:

• The disc is detected automatically when inserted — there is no need to click Refresh.
• Helium matches the disc to an existing album in your library and overwrites the files in place.
• Only FLAC and Wave (lossless formats) are available as output formats.

Use Re-Rip CD when you originally ripped a disc as MP3 and now want to replace those files with lossless copies, without having to re-tag the album from scratch.

For full details, see the Re-Rip CD article.

Tips

• Scratched or damaged discs: Lower the speed to 4x or 8x and enable Retry on read error. This gives the drive more time per sector and recovers more data from problem areas.
• Exact pressing metadata: In the Download wizard, search Discogs by barcode (printed on the back of the sleeve) or catalog number (on the spine) to pinpoint your specific pressing.
• Lossless archiving: Use Rip to single file combined with FLAC for a complete lossless archive of the disc. The generated CUE sheet allows any cue-aware player to treat the single file as individual tracks.
• Upgrading existing rips: Use Re-Rip CD to upgrade MP3 rips to FLAC or Wave without re-tagging — Helium overwrites the old files in place and keeps your library metadata intact.